Your next Monopoly piece can be an Xbox 360 controller

Those who know Monopoly are familiar with classic pieces like the dog, top hat and wheelbarrow.

But those are so old school now. In the newest version of the board game, Monopoly Empire, capitalism and big brands are the focus as players compete to “build an empire.”

Instead of properties, every space on the board is a brand, including the likes of Xbox, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Samsung, the last two of which seem to have replaced Boardwalk and Park Place.

You collect rent from other players based on how tall your company tower is. Other tech companies occupying tower space include eBay, EA, Intel, Yahoo! and Spotify. The pieces, which range from an Xbox 360 controller to a nice medium McDonald’s fry order, also got a makeover with shiny new gold paint.

Along with featuring today’s big corporations, apparently Hasbro also shortened the gameplay down to 30 minutes in order to appeal to the younger generation. The Xbox piece is cool and I’m usually all about modern improvements to classic ideas, but not sure how I feel about this product-placement infused version of a good ol’ board game that was fine as it was (damn, I sound old saying that).

Taylor Soper is a GeekWire staff reporter who covers a wide variety of tech assignments, including emerging startups in Seattle and Portland, the sharing economy and the intersection of technology and sports. Follow him @taylor_soper and email taylor@geekwire.com.